From Film School Receptionist to Emmy Winner: How I Built an Embedded Creative Partner for Modern Agencies
Twenty years ago, I didn't even know "Executive Producer" was a job title. I just knew I loved creative work, solving impossible puzzles, and finding paths to "yes" where others saw dead ends.
Fast forward two decades: I've built The Aux Co into what the industry desperately needed but didn't have a name for yet, an embedded creative partner that gives agencies expert execution without the bloated overhead killing traditional production models.
But getting here required something the industry doesn't talk about enough: pure grit, spectacular failures, and the willingness to build something that didn't fit any existing category.
This is the story of how production expertise, fractional models, and strategic partnership redefined what's possible for creative agencies trying to compete in an industry that's eating itself alive.
Why the Industry Needed an Embedded Creative Partner
The mid-2010s marked both the golden era of branded content and the beginning of the end for traditional agency models. Pre-influencer YouTube was exploding. Every brand needed a content strategy. The "hub, hero, hygiene" framework ruled everything.
I was working with cutting-edge creative teams making shows, not just spots. Long-form branded documentaries. Content that entertained people and told stories no one had seen before.
The work that mattered:
Wells Fargo Small Business Series: A six-week, six-city tour surprising small businesses with expert makeovers. We filmed at a different location every week—from a San Francisco gym to a grocery store outside St. Paul. It changed lives while telling authentic American stories.
Johnson & Johnson Branded Content: I cast and fought for real people whose stories needed telling, including Jade, a young woman transitioning very early in her journey. That's the power of this medium—not just selling products, but representing real human experiences.
I earned an Emmy during this period. The work proved that branded content could be both commercially successful and culturally meaningful.
Then the model broke.
The Straw that Broke the Camel’s back: When Traditional Agencies Stop Working
By 2015, I was running the creative department at Weber Shandwick during their transition from PR agency to end-to-end creative agency. I had 50 creatives and a small video production team—an untapped resource that wasn't being fully utilized.
I could see exactly what needed to change. The bureaucracy was suffocating.
The young creatives had incredible ideas but nobody had taught them how to actually produce those ideas. They could sell concepts beautifully, but when execution time came, the wheels fell off.
Ideas were dying in the gap between creative and production.
This is the fundamental problem that traditional production company models and in-house agency structures can't solve. Production expertise comes in too late. After the pitch is sold. After commitments are made. After the budget is locked.
That gap kills more great work than bad ideas ever could.
What Makes an Embedded Creative Partner Different from Traditional Production
When I launched The Aux Co in 2017, the term "fractional" didn't even exist in production. People kept asking if I was freelancing. I had to keep explaining: No. We're an auxiliary unit that embeds with your team. We bring the exact people you need for each specific project without dragging down your overhead.
The Fundamental Differences
Traditional Production Companies:
Specialize in narrow niches
Rep directors from their roster first
Come in after creative is sold
Operate as external vendors
Same team, same approaches, same results
Freelance Producers:
Execute without questioning
Zero strategic pushback
Limited skill sets
Divided attention across multiple clients
No stake in your vision
An Embedded Creative Partner:
Gets involved during creative development
Challenges assumptions to protect the creative
Brings custom teams for each brief
Operates as a strategic extension of your agency
Finds the path to "yes" instead of listing reasons to say "no"
The Aux Co became what agencies getting smaller actually needed: production infrastructure and operational support without full-time overhead. An embedded creative production partner that moves at the speed of ideas, not bureaucracy.
How Embedded Creative Production Works in Practice
Most agencies perfect-package their ideas before involving production. This is a massive mistake.
You lose the chance to:
Make it bigger
Execute smarter
Save where it counts
Production expertise should come in during the pitch, not after you've sold something you don't know how to execute.
The Embedded Approach
Early Involvement: We get in during creative development, not after deals are done.
Blank Slate Thinking: Every brief deserves new talent, fresh approaches, the exact right team for your specific vision.
Strategic Pushback: We find paths to "yes" that protect the creative and deliver on budget.
White Label Integration: We work as an extension of your team, not as an external vendor.
This fractional production model lets agencies pitch bold ideas without drowning in overhead. Small, nimble teams of 10-50 people led by top creatives who left big agencies to start their own shops can now compete with major agencies, without the 40-50% overhead bloat.
Real Work That Proves the Model
Over 20 years, I've worked with brands including Apple, Nike, Google, Sephora, Wells Fargo, Audi, Volvo, YouTube, Marriott, Unilever, Kate Spade, Uber, Walmart, Samsung, Bose, Anheuser-Busch, and GE.
Agency clients have included Arnold NY, Momentum, Two Things, Ueno, Supernatural, Universal McCann, J3, Fancy NY, Lippe Taylor, ACE Content, Iris, and Vice.
The executions:
Built Double Dare sets for Super Bowl campaigns
Streamed live to Times Square billboards
Created gallery art books that told brand stories better than any video
Delivered six-city national tours with weekly location changes
Pulled together A-list talent shoots across the country in two days
But the work I'm most proud of isn't the awards or big-name clients.
It's the moment when a creative director realizes their impossible idea isn't impossible anymore. When an agency founder understands they can compete without overhead bloat. When we find the unexpected solution that makes the work better than anyone imagined.
Why Your Agency Needs an Embedded Creative Production Partner
The agencies winning right now are small, nimble teams without 40% overhead bloat. They can pitch bold ideas because they're not drowning in bureaucracy.
But they need partners who understand both creativity and execution. Someone who will push back, offer alternatives, and find the path to "yes."
What To Look For in Creative Production Partners
Strategic Involvement: Look for partners who want in during creative development, not just execution.
Custom Team Building: Avoid production companies that only push their existing roster. You need partners who assemble the perfect team for your vision.
Operational Integration: The best embedded partners function as a seamless extension of your agency, handling production operations comprehensively.
Scalable Expertise: Fractional models give you Emmy-winning production leadership on-demand, without paying for bench time.
Honest Feedback: Partners who challenge assumptions protect your creative. Freelancers who execute bad ideas without pushback are not partners.
The Fractional Production Model: Built for How Agencies Actually Work Now
The new crop of independent creative agencies faces a specific challenge: incredible creative muscle without production infrastructure.
Traditional options failed them:
Full-time production staff: Expensive overhead sitting idle 30% of the time
Production companies: Same directors, same approaches, inflexible processes
Freelance producers: Limited expertise, no strategic input, divided attention
An embedded creative production partner solves this through the fractional model:
On-Demand Expertise: Access to award-winning producers when you need them.
Zero Bench Cost: Pay for production leadership only on active projects.
Customized Teams: New talent and fresh approaches for every brief.
White Label Operation: We work as your team, under your brand.
Strategic Involvement: Production input during creative development, not after.
This model lets agencies stay lean while competing for ambitious work that requires production expertise they can't afford to keep in-house.
What Two Decades of Spectacular Failures Taught Me
Every failure taught something essential:
Lesson 1: Production Must Be Involved Early The best work happens when production gets involved during creative development, not after the deal's done. Ideas sold without production input die in execution.
Lesson 2: Every Brief Deserves a Blank Slate New talent. Fresh approaches. The exact right team for your specific vision. Agencies keep hiring the same production companies getting the same results.
Lesson 3: "No" Is Easy, "Yes" Takes Creativity I'm not here to crush ideas. I'm here to find the path to "yes" that protects the creative and delivers on budget.
Lesson 4: The Gap Between Box-Checking and Greatness Most agencies perfect-package ideas before involving production. This kills the chance to make it bigger, execute smarter, and save where it counts.
The Evolution: From Film School Receptionist to Industry Disruptor
My path started in the most unglamorous way possible—as a film school receptionist at a commercial telecine house in Los Angeles.
While everyone around me wanted to be the next Scorsese, I discovered something different about myself: I loved the logistics. The planning. The actual mechanics of getting ideas made.
The early advantage: By volunteering to handle paperwork and budgets for other students' projects, I got to produce everyone's work without spending my own money. I learned on actual film, developing real footage, understanding the entire post-production workflow.
Working at that telecine house opened my eyes to a world I didn't know existed. Top directors and cinematographers working on Coca-Cola commercials, Nike spots, major brand campaigns—using the same artistic techniques as films, but with bigger risks and faster turnarounds.
For someone who couldn't focus on one thing for years at a time, the fast-paced world of commercial production felt like home.
Learning Every Side of the Industry
I spent years intentionally moving through every part of the industry:
Post-production
Visual effects
Production companies
In-house agency roles
Each move taught me something essential about how creative work gets made, who the players are, and where the bottlenecks happen.
Eventually I landed in-house at major agencies—Universal McCann, J3, Arnold New York, Weber Shandwick. I started as a producer but quickly found myself drawn to operations.
That comprehensive experience across every production discipline became the foundation for understanding what agencies actually needed: an embedded creative partner who knows every angle, every bottleneck, every opportunity.
Why This Matters Now: The Industry at an Inflection Point
The traditional agency model is dying. The mega-agencies keep merging to support their overhead. They can't pitch risky ideas anymore. Can't compete on bold creative that might not work.
Meanwhile, small independent agencies led by top creatives are taking market share. They're winning the best work. But they need strategic production partners who can:
Match their creative ambition
Deliver without vendor mentality
Scale without overhead bloat
Challenge assumptions to protect ideas
Find unexpected solutions that make work better
New ideas need new solutions. Your vision deserves better than "here's what we usually do."
After 20 years of climbing every rung through grit and failures, I've learned one thing for certain: the best creative work happens when you have the right team, the right approach, and someone who refuses to let great ideas die in execution.
That's not just a production philosophy. That's the only way I know how to work.
Frequently Asked Questions About Embedded Creative Partners
What is an embedded creative partner? An embedded creative partner is a production expert or team that integrates directly with your agency operations, functioning as a seamless extension of your team rather than an external vendor. Unlike traditional production companies, embedded partners get involved during creative development to challenge assumptions, protect the creative vision, and build custom teams for each project.
How is an embedded creative partner different from a production company? Traditional production companies specialize in narrow niches, represent directors from their existing roster, and come in after creative is sold. An embedded creative partner gets involved during creative development, brings custom teams for each brief, operates as a strategic extension of your agency, and finds paths to "yes" instead of listing reasons projects won't work.
What is fractional production? Fractional production gives agencies access to expert production leadership on a project basis without full-time overhead costs. Instead of hiring in-house producers who sit idle between projects, agencies partner with fractional production experts who embed with teams only when needed, delivering Emmy-level expertise without permanent payroll burden.
When should agencies involve production partners in the creative process? Production expertise should come in during the pitch phase, not after you've sold something you don't know how to execute. Early involvement allows production partners to make ideas bigger, execution smarter, and budgets more efficient. The gap between creative and production kills more great work than bad ideas ever could.
What problems do embedded creative partners solve for small agencies? Small independent agencies (10-50 people) have strong creative muscle but lack production infrastructure. They can't afford full-time production staff sitting idle 30% of the time, but freelancers provide limited expertise without strategic input. Embedded creative partners provide scalable production expertise, operational support, and strategic partnership without overhead bloat, letting lean agencies compete for ambitious work.
How do you find the right embedded creative production partner? Look for partners who want involvement during creative development, not just execution. They should build custom teams for each project rather than pushing existing rosters, function as seamless extensions of your agency, provide scalable expertise on-demand, and offer honest feedback that challenges assumptions to protect your creative vision.
Transform Your Agency's Production Capabilities
If you're running a creative agency tired of watching bold ideas get watered down in production, or if you're drowning in overhead trying to support full-time production staff, there's a better model.
The Aux Co operates as your embedded creative partner, bringing Emmy-winning production expertise, custom teams for every brief, and strategic involvement from concept through execution. We protect your creative while delivering at full scale, without the vendor mentality or overhead bloat killing traditional models.
Contact The Aux Co to discuss how fractional production partnership can transform your agency's capabilities without transforming your cost structure.
Your impossible ideas aren't impossible. They just need the right partner.